Alphabet and Fiat Are Working Together, but Not Exclusively — Tech Roundup

Last week, we noted that a partnership between Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) - Get Report and Alphabet's  (GOOGL) - Get Report  Google unit seemed imminent. Well, that partnership turned out to be true, but on Thursday we found out that it's also not exclusive.

The two companies will be able to look elsewhere to solve their problems. This means that Fiat, which many have viewed as a laggard in the autonomous driving race compared to its peers, will be able to team up with others that can help make the self-driving experience a reality.

For Google's part, the company was one of the first to start pioneering the idea of self-driving cars, despite not being an automaker. The tech giant has continued to hone its craft and is considered a leader in the space. But in order to turn its work into a scalable business, it either needed to acquire an automaker, start its own production or form a partnership

The last of which makes the most sense. And here they are with Fiat. But the partnership won't limit Google from seeking agreements or partnerships with other automakers - something that is a very big deal down the road.

While Fiat is big -- owning brands like Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Chrysler and a number of others -- it represents just a fraction of the auto market.

Shares of Alphabet closed higher by 0.5% at $714.71 Thursday, while Fiat closed at $7.65, down 2.3%. 

Despite all the struggles for Twitter's (TWTR) - Get Report stock, management really is trying. It's signing deals, introducing new features and even working on one of its most prized possessions: Periscope.

Periscope, the live-streaming social platform, was acquired by Twitter in January 2015 before the product even launched. Live video, as Google's YouTube and Facebook (FB) - Get Report can attest, is a rather rapid area of growth right now. So Twitter's decision to expand its Periscope offering was a good one.

Rather than having the video disappear after 24 hours, the company is making it so the video sticks around forever, so long as the user who posted it also includes the hashtag, "#save."

This might seem like a rather minute detail, but it's actually a pretty good idea. When former videos only exist for one full day, many users have little incentive (or ability) to go back and find it if they want to share or re-watch it. Now they'll be able to do both and Twitter's hoping that will boost engagement.

Shares of Twitter closed at $14.12 Thursday, down 4.85%. 

Sick of using up all of your data by streaming video? Well, if that video is coming from Netflix (NFLX) - Get Report , you now have some control over that.

The company recently updated its Android and iOS apps to include data control features. Users can switch to a lower quality video which will require less data for streaming and therefore allow for longer viewing times.

They can also increase the video quality, but they will be able to stream less video per gigabyte. Of course, if users have unlimited data or are a part of the T-Mobile (TMUS) - Get Report Binge On program, which doesn't count video against users' data, then this isn't a problem.

While Netflix isn't the top reason for video consumption -- that falls to YouTube and Facebook, mostly -- it still eats up a decent amount of data for big-time streamers.

Users that are on-the-go or like to consume content during their commutes or down time will surely appreciate this feature.

Shares of Netflix closed at $89.37 Friday, down 1.55%.

 Shares of Apple (AAPL) - Get Report were blasted below $100 following its worse-than-expected earnings results in late April. While iPhones were a big driver of the results, struggling iPad sales didn't help matters.

When Apple first introduced the iPad, sales were strong and it was a new product category for the tech giant to take advantage of. But over the last few years, sales growth has been lackluster.

That's why Apple is hoping its new partnership with SAP (SAP) - Get Report will help. SAP makes enterprise business applications and with a market cap of $92 billion, it's certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Management is hoping the partnership can spur sales of iPads to businesses. Because businesses buy in bulk, it could move the needle faster than selling one or two at a time to consumers.

The programs that are being written specifically for iOS will also work on iPhones too. The big benefit is that SAP will develop many of these applications, with its customers also helping to write customized apps.

SAP has 310,000 global customers, which could give a serious boost to sales if the tactic works.

Shares of Apple finished lower by 0.4% at $93.24 Friday, while shares of SAP closed at $77.07, down 0.5%. Alphabet, Twitter and Apple are all holdings of Action Alerts PLUS, the charitable trust portfolio managed by TheStreet's Jim Cramer. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GOOGL, TWTR or AAPL? Learn more now.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.